Deans Campaign Alters Approach After Iowa Loss

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN

Published: January 22, 2004

MANCHESTER, N.H., Jan. 21 — Senior aides to Howard Dean took several steps on Wednesday to overhaul his candidacy, including softening the tone of his speeches and eliminating high-voltage campaign rallies in favor of dignified appearances where he would present himself as a mature ex-governor with a command of health care and the economy.

The moves came as senior advisers expressed concern in interviews that Dr. Dean's candidacy was imperiled after a third-place finish in Iowa and a roaring, raucous concession speech that many opponents have held up as evidence that Dr. Dean is unfit to be president.

The advisers said they had concluded that the portrayal of Dr. Dean as a candidate unhinged would make it impossible, at least for now, to run advertisements attacking their opponents here, a significant restriction for any candidate in a tough race. Dr. Dean and his wife, Judith, have also agreed to do their first joint television interview, which will appear Thursday night on ABC's "Prime Time."

Evidence of a new Dr. Dean was on display Wednesday morning in Manchester, where the candidate, speaking softly and haltingly, highlighted his proposed overhaul of the campaign finance system, in what aides described as their first effort to change the subject of the campaign discourse.

The new steps were mapped out in a series of meetings that continued Wednesday in Burlington, Vt., where the governor went to recover from a cold that left him hoarse and looking beleaguered.

"I don't buy into the notion that somebody did it to us, but somehow we got caught in the mutually assured destruction of a harsh, negative, vitriolic campaign that created very negative images of Howard at the very time that he needed to humanize himself," said Steven Grossman, the chairman of the campaign and a former Democratic national chairman, as he began a seven-hour round-trip drive from his home in Boston for the meeting in Vermont.

Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey said that in a conference call with members of Congress and Dr. Dean's staff on Tuesday night, he said Dr. Dean "has to get away from the negative attacks."

"He has to be positive, talk about the future, don't talk about others," Mr. Pallone said. "Don't even defend yourself against attacks by others."

Dr. Dean's advisers said they had been deluged with advice from all the camps that make up the unusual alliance of the Dean campaign — from their young Web-based supporters to senior members of Congress to his growing legion of paid consultants — about what their candidate should do. Several advisers said they were increasingly concerned that he could face a loss in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday that could be devastating.

"I told him to be a minipresident; not to be so hot, to tone it down," said one of his most prominent supporters, who did not want to be identified as sharing his private advice to Dr. Dean. "I said, `In the future, if you want to stir up the crowd, have somebody else do it for you.' "

Representative Robert Menendez of New Jersey said he had told Dean aides that Dr. Dean "needs to do more of the uplifting, motivational, substantial vision of where he would take America."

"Put him in the type of circumstance where he is not just pumping the crowd, but is engaged in a conversation with the electorate that reflects his intellect and concern for people," Mr. Menendez said.

Dr. Dean's aides said they were taking that advice, and said that would become increasingly clear over the next day. Late Wednesday night his aides noted that despite the disparaging publicity from the loss in Iowa and his exuberant postcaucus performance, Dr. Dean had raised $590,000 in contributions since Monday.

The retooling of the Dean campaign reflects the dramatic turn in fortunes for this candidate, and just six days before the vote in New Hampshire, a contest that just two weeks ago Dr. Dean seemed positioned to win overwhelmingly. Instead, a series of polls have shown his support dropping, putting him in a tight contest with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

On Thursday, aides said, Dr. Dean plans to take his campaign finance proposal a step further by calling for a $250 limit on contributions to an individual candidate, down from the current $2,000. The proposal is timed to come on the day that the Democratic presidential candidates are meeting in a televised debate which Dr. Dean's advisers view as critical to turning around his fortunes.

Dr. Dean went so far as to first schedule, and then postpone, campaigning door-to-door in Newport, about 60 miles northwest of here, in the first bit of retail politicking he would have done in months. Aides said that over the next few days, he would put aside the noisy rallies that have become associated with his candidacy for town-hall-style meetings, and visits to schools and hospitals, all intended to highlight his work as governor of Vermont.

At the same time, an aide said, Dr. Dean will stop talking about the process of his campaign — in other words, his success at using the Internet to recruit supporters — and more about the issues that polls said New Hampshire voters were interested in. Aides said that in effect they were trying to reclaim the spirit of the Dean candidacy that allowed him to dominate this state just three months ago.